For those of you working on website SEO for local businesses, Google's new rules will be difficult to deal with. You can no longer use a keyword rich phrase to name you business on Google Maps. You have to use the actual name.

While some of the rule changes will help the user find what they are looking for, not being able to use keywords in the naming at all could easily leave out many businesses who would fit the search very well.

Also, if your business exists in several areas, or cities, you will no longer be able to create multiple listings for keywords that are specific to a particular location.

So far most businesses that are in Google Maps haven't defined the attributes to describe their business. If you're using Google Maps for advertising, you could get a jump on the competition by adding these.

Check out the new rules in Google's Business Listing Quality Guidelines

Friday, October 10, 2008 9:55:13 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

Customers ask me daily how they can advertise their website. It is not terribly difficult, but it does take quite a bit of time and effort. I happen to be from the school of targeted traffic. That is, I'm much more interested in traffic that has a need to view my site, rather than traffic that is generated on a random basis.

To get a site going quickly, I find that pay per click (PPC) works very well. You have to be careful that your revenues are greater than your expenses here though. Once you get started with PPC, it is necessary to constantly tweak it using split-testing techniques to improve your conversion rates.

There are many ways to generate targeted traffic, but some of the best that I have found are:

• Article Marketing
• Blogging
• Email lists
• Social networking and forum participation.

There are a number of  article directories that are worthwhile. Here are a few of the best.

• EzineArticles.com
• Article Alley
• articledashboard.com

Write articles on your subject and link them back to your website.

A blog is a necessity. Try to post to it regularly if not every day. For myself, I find it very difficult to keep it up when I involved in a software project, which is why I haven't posted anything for some time.

Email lists are essential. The best company to handle your list is AWeber. You can setup auto-responders so that your customers hear from you on a regular basis automatically.

As to social networking, you should hook up to digital point forums, Twitter, and as many others as you have time for. It's also good to post to other peoples blogs because the links will point to your website.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008 12:26:07 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

From everything I'm reading about Google Chrome, their new web browser, it's best to stay away for now. It looks like it will be an excellent platform, but they need to get some bugs and security holes worked out first.

Security researchers have found a buffer overflow vulnerability that could allow hackers to take control of your computer. They have found a half dozen other problems, and it's only been out a week. It's to be expected though as this is a new product that has to go through some growing pains.

I looks like it will be quite the contender in the browser wars, but for now it's probably best to stay with your old standby.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 4:58:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

Beach Money is about businesses that provide income even when you aren't working. The main examples of this are network marketing companies.

Though network marketing is considered by many a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, some network marketing companies are the real deal. When they run professionally and have a quality product, they can make a great deal of money for the participants.

Jordan Adler is one of the most successful network marketing distributors on the planet. He describes the road he took to get there in his book. He also gets into ways others can follow in his footsteps.

It's an enjoyable, informative read.

Find out more at http://www.marketingideasandtools.com/beach_money.html

Thursday, September 04, 2008 11:03:31 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  general

I call this THE internet business opportunity because it is so effective. In fact, the company is growing so fast that they won't allow me to mention their name in a website or blog.

Check this out, and take your time. This will be an enjoyable experience. I can't get into the system here, just go to www.ourcardsender.com and watch the video. You can use this to market the opportunity, or if you have an existing business, you can use it to market your existing business, and improve your customer retention to boot.

Just like I was six months ago, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you like what you see, give me a call at 419-424-3896, or email me at rustyc@mtisoftware.com, and we'll go over the whole system.

Monday, July 28, 2008 11:47:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

If you've thought about making videos and putting on the web, take a look at Brad Fallon's podcast at Free Line. He discussed some free video editing tools which can be quite valuable.

Animoto, MuveeMix, JumpCut, EyeSpot, and Kaltura. I'm not going into a long winded description of these tools, because Brad does an excellent job of reviewing them. Just let me say that these tools can quickly move you into the video space.

Friday, July 25, 2008 7:52:28 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  web businesses

This is off topic a bit, but it's too important not to share. T Boone Picken's plan to cut down on oil consumption within ten years. We really need to get behind this. It makes more sense than anything I've seen yet. Problem is the government will need to get behind it. With the federal government's normal foolishness in charge, everyone needs to buttonhole our congressmen to see this succeed.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:28:06 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

I just finished the Adsense Code... yeah, yeah, I should have read it a long time ago.  Just too many things to do. Anyway, I found it rather informative. It's mostly about tweaking your ads to increase their clickthrough rates.

Joel Comm discusses a number of very informative and important topics that you should understand if you are using Adsense. Some of the things he covers in his book are:

• Using colors to increase your clicks
• How to maximize visibility and response
• Controlling ad placement
• Using the Google search box
• Using multiple ad blocks
• Writing relevant content
• Response tracking and testing.
• Do's and don'ts about Adsense

He has links to resources and tools, some free, some rather pricey. He has set up affiliate linking for most of them so he can get a piece of the action.

The price is right on this book.  If you can't find enough info on Adsense to get your 15-17.00 back, you are just not using Adsense.

Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:30:52 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  web businesses